In publishing, it is desirable to use a template to maintain a consistent style, appearance, or brand across pages or sections of a particular content work. Such a consistent style may additionally be useful to main consistency across a group of related content works, or all works published by the same group, etc., to help identify their relationship. A a designer may have spent time crafting an appealing style for a series of publications, and deviations from this style may result in a publication that is unattractive or less useful.
However, even though it may be desirable to ensure that multiple components of a content work, or multiple works are stylistically consistent does not necessarily mean that each component or work should use the same template or format. For example, a particular publisher may wish to constrain the designers for its works to a limited universe of stylistic or layout elements, for example because the elements within the limited universe are harmonious or signal an association with the brand, or because certain excluded elements are unacceptable or undesirable. Additionally, a publication may include different sections that do not need to share the same layout, but do need to maintain some level of visual consistency.
Development of traditional print media and other rich content (e.g., textbooks, travel books, magazines, cookbooks, how-to books, literature, and the like) involves many tasks, including managing the content creation and editing process. As print media have transitioned to electronic media, content creators and editors have been forced to either develop computer coding skills or rely on others with those skills. There is a need for more user-friendly user interfaces for designing publications that permit flexibility while also providing some constraints to ensure stylistic consistency.